Veterans Day, Wing Festival, a farewell to the 'Big Bling,' and other things to do in Philadelphia Nov. 10 to 16

Posted: November 8, 2017

The Museum of the American Revolution will honor veterans this weekend.

Museum of the American Revolution

CHOW DOWN

Philadelphia Wing Festival

Get more than your fill of wings at this hours-long Philly wing fest. Your ticket will provide you with vouchers so that you can try out some of the more than 20 vendors pushing their variety of the chicken wing. Besides every flavor and style of wing you can imagine, you can also purchase drinks and other non-fowl foods. You can also view three stages of live entertainment and participate in both a chicken costume contest (which you can interpret however you would like) and a ranch dressing chugging contest (which is exactly what it sounds like). — Thea Applebaum Licht

DRESS UP

Beaux Arts Ball

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This gala follows in the tradition of masked revelry dating back to the middle ages. Guests are asked to celebrate the arts in black-tie and "high fashion" attire, with masquerade costume encouraged; hopefully this year's theme ("The Art of the Mask") will bring out some creative millinery. See an art collection curated by Philly's own Art Jawn, eat food from some of the city's best restaurants, and hear live music and dance in support of the event's many good causes. This year the ball will benefit Penn Radiation Oncology's Quality of Life Program and the Jack Brewer Foundation's Hurricane Relief Efforts. —T.A.L.

GOING, GOING …

“Big Bling”

James EWing

"Big Bling" by Martin Puryear, on Kelly Drive, 11/10-12.

Count us among those who thought it was an elephant when first we glimpsed the massive Kelly Drive artwork in June. It's not a pachyderm, but Martin Puryear's 40-foot wood-and-metal abstract sculpture truly is something else. (We're relieved to note that Puryear says it's OK if you think it's an elephant. "I trust people's eyes," he says. "I trust their imagination.") If you're one of the many who have grown to love it, it's time to say goodbye: The sculpture was always a temporary installation and work to dismantle it will begin on Monday. — Michael Harrington

KIDS

Mermaids

Devon K

Mermaids at the Adventure Aquarium 11/10-12.

The sharks, stingrays, and menhaden of the Adventure Aquarium are once again joined in the 5550,000-gallon tank by the magnificent mythical creatures, making their annual trek to New Jersey. The program features up-close (and dry) meet-and-greets with a mermaid, photo opportunities, a mermaid keepsake autograph session, and crafts. — M.H.

The combination of the intrepid adventurer and journalist Tintin, the sublime creation of Belgian cartoonist Hergé, with two masters of film fantasy, Stephen Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), resulted as one might expect: a grand, groundbreaking 2011 epic that expands film's vocabulary (through photo-realistic, motion-capture animation) while staying true to the simplicity of the source. The tale follows the boy reporter and his dog Snowy as they become ensnared in the mystery of a sunken treasure, enduring kidnapping, a mutiny at sea, a plane crash, and being stranded in a desert along the way. This one's best for ages 9 and older. — M.H.

FILM

City of Brotherly Crime

The Secret Cinema, celebrating 25 years, brings back this popular selection from its archives featuring two documentary looks at Philadelphia in the late 1960s, with two distinct views of crime. The 1967 short The Jungle, now on the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, is a look at gang life filmed by gang members — with the 12th & Oxford Street Gang writing the script, acting, directing, and editing (the gang tried to transition into a filmmaking studio, only to have their cameraman killed by street rivals). The 1970 NBC News report The Besieged Majority focuses on the change in the Germantown/East Mount Airy neighborhood from a stable residential area to a crime zone, with interviews with then-Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo and then-DA Arlen Specter. — M.H.

CLASSICAL

The Philadelphia Orchestra

The Orchestra's gifted concertmaster David Kim moves a few steps toward center stage, soloing in the flowing Bach Violin Concerto in E minor. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is back in town for one of his specialties, Anton Bruckner's last completed Symphony, the resplendent No. 8. — Tom Di Nardo

Network for New Music

The innovative ensemble performs works by Cynthia Folio, Robert Maggio, Jeffrey Mumford, and Roberto Pace written in response to Martin Puryear's sculpture Big Bling, performed amid an exhibition at the Print Center of drawings and paintings by the artist. Also on the bill: Mario Davidovsky's String Trio, a 1982 chamber music piece scored for violin, viola, and cello by a composer more often associated with electronic music. — M.H.

POP

Philly Pops

The hot band tackles the music of Elton John, with multi-talented Michael Cavanaugh reprising the songbook including "Bennie and the Jets," "Philadelphia Freedom" (of course), "Rocket Man," "Your Song," and — well, you know the rest. Savvy maestro Stuart Chafetz is on the podium for this songfest. —T.D.N.

Tegan and Sara

courtesy of the artist

Tegan and Sara play at the Tower Theater on 11/10.

Canadian twins Tegan and Sara Quin are celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Con, their 2007 album that was panned at the time but has grown in stature among fans and critics in the decade hence. Instead of going the standard route of issuing a deluxe commemorative version, the 37 year old sisters instead handpicked 18 artists to do versions of the songs on The Con X-Covers, including Cyndi Lauper, Ryan Adams, Chvrches, Mykki Blanco, and Philadelphia songwriter Shamir, who does an intimate take on "Like O, Like H," the song whose title he has tattooed on his forearm. On the tour that comes to Upper Darby this weekend, Tegan and Sarah are doing The Conin its entirety, plus a selection of songs from their going-on-two-decade career. — Dan DeLuca

The Mountain Goats

John Darnielle is a master at exploring subcultures, whether in songs or in novels. He's used Mountain Goats albums to explore the psyches of professional wrestlers (2015's Beat the Champ), the inspirational value of bible verses (2009's The Life of the World to Come) and, this year, the faded hopes of goth rockers and fans (Goths). His wide-ranging discography is full of empathy for the misfits and the misguided, whether in early lo-fi rants or recent, artfully arranged ruminations (especially with the addition of woodwind player Matt Douglas). Live, the quartet draws on all eras of Darnielle's vast songbook. Saturday's Union Transfer show is sold out, but they're coming back to the Ardmore Music Hall on April 22. — Steve Klinge

Pere Ubu

Lex Van Rossen

David Thomas of Pere Ubu.

Why is David Thomas, the lead singer of unpredictable and enduring late 1970s Cleveland art-rock garage-punks Pere Ubu, who have just released the engagingly energetic new album 20 Years In a Montana Missile Silo, calling the band's current jaunt the MonkeyNet Tour? Well, partly because the new album's lead single is called "Monkey Bizness" and partly because, as the absurdist raconteur puts it, "An infinite number of monkeys clicking on an infinite number of links will yield nothing but an infinite number of bananas." Openers of note are Minibeast, an instrumental trio featuring Peter Prescott of Mission of Burma, and Philly rock quartet RunHideFight, fronted by Geeta Dalal Simons. — D.D.

Lukas Nelson

He's the son of Willie Nelson — you can hear a slight vocal resemblance — and he and his band, Promise of the Real, now back Neil Young. But at 28 Lukas Nelson has also forged a compelling identity of his own. You can hear it on Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real, a stunningly assured and varied collection of top-flight original songs that blend rock, soul, country, gospel, and pop, along the way evoking everyone from the Stones to Glen Campbell. — Nick Cristiano

Kelela

If there's new musical form or genre that is revolutionizing how we hear tradition, it is the future soul or experimental R&B of big names such as Flying Lotus, Solange, Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Bibio and Thundercat, along with the up-and-coming likes of Brent Faiyaz and Kelela. Lady K isn't brand new as her 2013 Cut 4 Me mix tape rocked more than a few ears and weird dance floors upon release. But it's Kelela's 2017, full-album debut, Take Me Apart, that is taking her brand of odd-electronica and formless funk into gorgeously epic — and provocatively romantic — territories with her bold, brawny vocals and her sensuous songwriting-production style. Miss Kelela's Coda showcase and miss seeing one of this year's best albums performed live. — A.D. Amorosi